August 17, 2015: Bittersweet

Hey family!!!

How is summer treating y'all? All sunkist, or sunburnt? haha. I forgot to wish you a happy birthday Mom! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! belat
ed.... I love you so much and am so thankful to be your daughter.

Whelp....i am no longer in San Carlos....dun dun dun dun. Now I am in Santo Domingo in the Alajuela Province, and in the Zone Heredia. It´s the same zone where I started my mission! Not the same area, but super close, and our district and zone meetings are in the same chapel beside the temple as it was when I was in this zone over a year ago...I was born and will die in Zone Heredia (we are born when we start the mission, and we die when we go home...haha).

My new companion is Hermana Nuñez who is from Honduras. She is my second companion from Honduras. It´s official. I won´t have a single gringa (american) companion in my whole mission (except for in the MTC). Oh well, haha, better for me so that my spanish can get fine tuned haha.

It was hard, as it is always, to leave San Carlos and the members, and investigators there. I will never forget the wonderful experiences and the hard experiences that I had there. I love San Carlos. I love the families there. I love the friendships I made there. I love the views there. I know that I have many homes to visit when I can make it back to Costa Rica someday to visit or live a year or two....like father like daughter....I could teach english here and rent is cheap....but food is spendy....but I know a whole bunch of families willing to feed me every once in a while....haha. My companion and I were surprised when we got the phone call Sunday evening telling us that we BOTH had transfers! She is now in Ciudad Colon with a companion that just barely finished her training, and I am in Santo Domingo with a companion who ends the mission one change after me. I´ll go where He wants me to go.

This week we taught Henry and Flora and their three sons, Alexis (13), Rafael (11), and Jacob (5) twice with a member present. Nadya, the President of the Relief Society came with us the first visit. Then we asked Brother Nelson, an ex-missionary who just moved to San Carlos from San Vito, to accompany us to another lesson with this family. This family is excellent. The dad especially has lots of great questions. Even the kids ask lots of qu

estions, and not random ones, truly inspired questions. They want to know what we believe. they want to know for themselves if it is true. And now I won´t be able to keep teaching them, as my companion and I both got transferred. We gave their number and address to the Elders in the ward there....they have got to keep teaching them and help them to make it on the narrow road to baptism. I never got to take a picture of this family . I sure hope that someday when I get to visit, they will be baptized and serving in leadership positions in the ward....and then I will take a picture with them.

Well, it´s always bittersweet when changes come, when we have to leave an area and all the people we came to know there...but exciting to meet new people and areas. Here´s to another month and a half of adventure and serving in the Lord´s work and bringing the truths of the restored gospel to every family that I can and allow the Spirit of the Lord touch their hearts!!!

Love yall,

Hermana Flake